Scorecard

Lustleigh v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 24 Jun 2012 at 1.30 pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 15 runs

Match report Lustleigh 2012

- an unconventional Bollywood film on cricket

THE DISCLAIMER

"ERRATICS CRICKET CLUB" is the author of this motion picture for the purpose of copyright and other laws.

This motion picture is protected pursuant to the provisions of the laws of the cricket field and other countries. Any unauthorized duplication, distribution and/or exhibition of this motion picture may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.

Characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are REAL, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely INTENTIONAL.

No animals were harmed in the making of this film (Tea exceptions apply).

DIRECTOR
Matt Cook

PRODUCER
an Erratics Cricket Club Production

CASTING DIRECTOR
Phil Ellis

CAST

Harish Bhaskaran
Lucky Bandhu
Duncan Chave
Matt Cook
Chris Ferro
Varun Kothamachu
Harry Molins
Paul Molins
Dominic Prosser
Suhaib Mohammed
Nigel Rutherford

LOCATION
Lustleigh, Devon, UK

I would advise you not to picture a song and dance sequence, or snake charmers with elephants dancing, scenes with hero and heroine dancing around trees and a rain song in a language that sounds gibberish to you. his is a modern Bollywood film that plays in multiplexes in big cities across India these days. In any case, mind is a fickle thing and man is a creature of habits, who finds comfort in stereotypes and the known. So go ahead, sit back and picture a song and dance sequence on the slushy muddy outfields of Lustleigh on a grim Sunday afternoon in June.

The movie begins with a stream of Erratics cars roaring (purring) into the ground. If you were from my part of the country in the south, a state called Andhra Pradesh, most movies begin with bombs blowing up, and cars flying in the air defying the laws of physics as the hero makes the entrance into the film, thrashing the bad guys and being a man of the masses (people). In some cases, our man (the hero) even plays cricket and hits every single ball to the boundary when he bats and even takes numerous wickets when he bowls, leaving Sachin Tendulkar behind and Ricky Ponting looking camera shy.

Now, back to this film.

As cars piled into the ground, the Erratics were welcomed to the familiar face of Peter walking with Scooby along the boundary line. Talk of rain from days before and the seamer from the sub-continent who missed his lift to the game filled the air. Lustleigh, with its beautiful grounds was a perfect setting for enthusiastic spectators and families with kids playing around, dogs chasing the odd stick thrown and people searching for lost balls in the nets behind the rollers at the back.

(Because it’s a modern contemporary Bollywood film)

The two captains strode in to take the toss without trumpets playing pam.rapam.pa.rampapappam.rampapappam.pam into a crescendo and drums playing a base tune of dum.da.dum.da.dum.da.dum.dum (repeat)

Matt Cook walked back winning the toss and choosing to bat. An excerpt from the commentary:

…….”Matt is opening the batting for the Erratics, along with C. Ferro and the team is cruising at a brisk pace. Oh! No, M Cook has lost his wicket to Foot. It was a quick-fire twenty five peppered with beautiful boundaries and a six”.

These actors were well trained in the skills of cricket, playing it for many years before they were chosen for this film. The new player from Bhilai in central India, a recent recruit to the Erratics showed promises of a good batsmen as he strode into bat at position 3. Now back to the commentary:

……”On one end, C. Ferro is playing some beautiful strokes and as always he keeps accumulating runs. What a season this has been for C Ferro. Lucky appears to do well with the bat and hold fort on the other end. His innings has been peppered with a number of singles and the odd boundary”.

Off the field there were pets seeking attention from their owners, while conversations continued about all the cancellations in the summer. Coming in to play his first game for the season, D. Chave and his family were engrossed in conversations about the season and the forthcoming cricket tours for the Mystics.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the missing bowler arrives at the ground, after convincing a friend with bring him to the game with the promise of food and ample photographic opportunities.

“….The batting continues as both the players start accumulating runs. The batsman from the sub-continent fills his score card with a few boundaries and runs a few quick singles. With the scoreboard at 79, everything is going great for the Erratics.”

Things changed quickly after that as Lucky was out, caught by McKellar with a score of 27 under his belt. C. Ferro continued to make runs, whilst he lost partners on the other end quickly, with none of the remaining batsmen making serious contributions to the overall score.

“.. The score for the Erratics now stands at 145. Hosts, Lustleigh have to score 146 to win, and it is tea...”

Often in a stereotypical Bollywood film, a twenty minute intermission aka tea break is the norm. While the teams feasted on the wonderful spread on offer, serious talks were going on within both the sides, about game plans, strategies and what not’s to beat the other team. Talk about the John Lloyd Cup, and the mystical way in which it tends to disappear every few years was making its rounds. One of the Erratic players remarked

“…It has been several years since we won this cup…”

This was the last thought as the team walked on to the ground, for the second innings.

I lied earlier when I said there will be no songs in this unconventional Bollywood film. A belief strongly shared by many is that song and dance sequence in a film is great way of taking a story forward quickly, introducing characters and nuances which otherwise would take a long time.

Here they were, eleven strong men
Walking onto a battlefield far from home,
Feast they did on their last supper,
While they prepared for battle on a war torn land.

Savages from the other side,
Blew the war horn.
Sound of the battle drums filled the air.
Here they were, on a battlefield far from home,
Here they were, eleven strong men.

………….

The might of the enemy started to take form,
While they came onto fight,
To this battle to harm.
Eleven strong warriors were their shape and form
As they thundered in from the distance,
To this battle to harm.

………..

Soon it began, a fight so intense,
As the sword fell upon
Culling both defence and offence.
There lie in wait, a secret traveller from afar
A weapon to win, a weapon to war.

……..

The eleven strong men fought valiantly,
Drew their secret weapon
To trigger the end.
Seven mighty hits did this stranger claim,
Caught in his wake were the enemy thrown far.

…………

As the day drew to a close,
And the smoke settled
Several warriors were rendered torn,
With scars from a battle
Filled with valour,
Adding to their wisdom and lessons for long.

Imagine this track in a strange unknown tongue, with strong men and a catchy tune. Now, this is what happened during the song. The team from Lustleigh got off to a comfortable start and were cruising along at 45 for zero. The man from the East, Lucky Bandhu is introduced into the attack relieving Suhaib from his spell.

“…He immediately starts with a bang, taking the wicket of S Wright, who has already scored a comfortable 28, with several boundaries and a six to his tally. “

At the other end, M Cook continues his spell and soon Lustleigh is at 59 for 2 losing Barry to another ball from Bandhu, caught by M Cook. Bandhu was bowling a beautiful spell and he kept taking wickets in quick intervals.

“ …You cannot believe what is happening. Bandhu has had a beautiful spell. He has taken one wicket each over and with Ferro taking the wicket of Chapman, Lustleigh is at 109 for 6. “

Matt Cook was overheard telling Bandhu,

“……you will continue to bowl from this end until I ask you to stop”

Soon, Lustleigh was had lost another wicket and as Bandhu started bowling his 11th over, Lustleigh were well into their tail.

“…Bandhu starts another over and, yes. There goes the stumps. Session has been bowled by Bandhu in the first ball of his eleventh over. What more can happen at this point? It seems like Lustleigh have been out performed by this Erratics team, and this spell by Lucky. Here we go again, the second ball from Lucky. Oh! Another wicket. Bandhu’s on a hat-trick. He’s got the wicket of the new batsman Bull. Bull walks away without troubling the scorers. Bandhu’s first game at Lustleigh could not have been much better. He has got 7 wickets already and now he is on a hat-trick. Will he get the next man out?...”

Unfortunately for Bandhu, the eleventh batsman managed to stay out of trouble and he ended his eleventh over with 2 Wicket maiden overs, giving away 26 runs and taking 7 wickets. Harry Mollins, introduced into the attack replacing Ferro, took the last wicket of Brewer and the team from Lustleigh were all out for 130, chasing a score of 145.

There were shouts of joy in the Erratics camp and victory was sweetened by a resurfacing of the John Lloyd rolling trophy, and it coming back to the hands of the heroic Erratics.

MATCH REPORT BY VARUN KOTHAMACHU

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
6w 7b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
15
145		        
Chris Ferro Not Out  62 104 8 59.62 1
Matt Cook ct P Foot 25 32 3 1 78.12 1
Lucky Bandhu ct M McKeller 27 53 4 50.94
Nigel Rutherford ct M McKeller 0 2 0 1
Harish Bhaskaran b M McKeller 4 2 1 200 1
Duncan Chave ct T Bull 7 10 1 70.0
Dominic Prosser b M Brewer 2 10 20.0
Paul Molins ct R Barr 0 4 0 1
Suhaib Mohammed ct M Brewer 1 10 10.0
Varun Kothamachu ct M Brewer 2 14 14.29
Harry Molins b M Manners-Chapman 0 2 0

Lustleigh Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
D Manners-Chapman3.002400.008.00
M Sessions7.021200.001.71
P Foot7.0111111.001.57
M McKeller8.002137.002.63
T Bull5.0034134.006.80
R Barr4.0014114.003.50
M Brewer5.001434.672.80
M Manners-Chapman1.30616.004.00

Lustleigh Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 2b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
12
130 (32.3 overs)		     
S Wright ct L Bandhu 28
N Cookson b L Bandhu 34
R Barr ct L Bandhu 2
N Watts b V Kothamachu 0
P Foot ct L Bandhu 18
M Manners-Chapman b C Ferro 11
M Sessions b L Bandhu 11
M McKeller ct L Bandhu 0
D Manners-Chapman ct H Molins 12
T Bull b L Bandhu 0
M Brewer Not Out  0

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nigel Rutherford4.002600.006.50
Suhaib Mohammed5.001800.003.60
Matt Cook4.002000.005.00
Lucky Bandhu11.022673.712.36
Varun Kothamachu5.0018118.003.60
Chris Ferro3.0017117.005.67
Harry Molins0.30010.000.00
 
Photos and video of Lustleigh v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 24 Jun 2012 at 1.30 pm

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The John Lloyd trophy, for the annual match at Lustleigh